Rapides Parish
| Rapides Parish, Louisiana | ||
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Upper portion of the Rapides Parish Courthouse in Alexandria
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 Location in the U.S. state of Louisiana |
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 Louisiana's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1807 | |
| Named for | The local river rapids | |
| Seat | Alexandria | |
| Largest city | Alexandria | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 1,362 sq mi (3,528 km2) | |
| • Land | 1,318 sq mi (3,414 km2) | |
| • Water | 44 sq mi (114 km2), 3.2% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 132,141 | |
| • Density | 100/sq mi (39/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 5th | |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 | |
| Website | www |
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Rapides Parish (French: Paroisse des Rapides) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 131,613. The parish seat is Alexandria.Rapides is the French spelling of "rapids". The parish was created in 1807.
Rapides Parish is included in the Alexandria, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In 1763, the land that is now Rapides Parish became the new home of the Apalachee tribe, who were settled there with the permission of Governor Kerlerec. The Native Americans had come after fleeing the British and their Creek Indian allies from what is now from Leon County, Florida. Many of their descendants remain in .
The first French settler was Vincent Porei, who was granted a small tract of land in July 1764 by the Civil and Military Commander of Natchitoches. Nicolas Etienne Marafret Layssard arrived in December 1766, with the permission of Aubrey and Foucault, to establish a "tar works" in the pineries of Rapides, for naval stores. He was later appointed the first Civil Commander of Rapides Parish. During the 1760s, the area was still a dependency of Natchitoches Parish [AGI, PPC, Legajo 187a, 384-384v].
Alexander Fulton had a Spanish land grant within Rapides Parish in the 1790s, where he laid out the future city of Alexandria in 1805. Rapides Parish was formed in 1807 by the government of the Territory of Orleans.
When the Union occupied Alexandria, elections were held on April 1, 1863, in Rapides Parish to select delegates for a pending state constitutional convention. According to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, the election was held at Alexandria "by the request of citizens of the parish of Rapides. No officer or soldier interfered with or had any part whatever in this matter. It was left exclusively to the loyal citizens" in Rapides Parish. The election dates varied within the Federally occupied areas. New Orleans held its contests for delegates on March 28. Marksville and Grand Ecore soon followed. According to the historian John D. Winters, "none of these elections in any way impeded the progress nor materially affected the outcome of the [Union's] Red River campaign.
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